A Long Way to Fall

by Cinders of War

Chapter 103: Undoubtedly a Trap

The signs of battle were showing themselves all over the city. Fires had begun to spread around some buildings, along with ruined roads leading to the old Masyaf Palace. Dead bodies littered the ground; some were Templars, some were Assassins, some unfortunate civilians caught in the middle.

Rose Petal slid under another wave of energy as she kicked out with all her might, staggering one of the soldiers just enough to allow Shadowstrike to perform an air assassination, breaking the Templars’ formation. Two more advanced on the Eastern Assassin, but two quick bullets to their helmeted faces dropped them, their swords dissolving into shadow.

“Thanks, snipers!” she voiced on the radio. “I owe you one.”

“I’m going to guess there’s going to be a lot more owing today, Rose,” Trueshot replied playfully. “Come on, Feather. Let’s move up.”

Trueshot and Feather Duster had taken care of most of the sword group, but Rose noticed they had lost plenty of Assassins at the beginning. Those swords could now cut with the long range attack. Rose didn’t recall them being able to do anything but push people back. Either the Templars had stepped up their game, or their Grand Master had been playing with the Brotherhood the entire time.

“Go, go!” she motioned over to a group of Assassins, pointing her hand towards the palace.

Just then, a trio of tanks burst through one of the buildings, stopping before a short wall, their cannons positioned towards the Assassins.

“Cover!” Rose warned as everyone scrambled in all directions. The first shell was fired, blasting dirt and gravel all over her as she slid behind a wall.

The day just had to start like this, huh? Rose’s arm sleeves had been torn in multiple locations with blood oozing out of cuts from the stray rocks.

Tanks were a problem. If it was a helicopter, Trueshot or Feather Duster could take it down no problem, but a tank didn’t have weak spots for a sniper to use, and it wasn’t just one tank, but three.

Well, perhaps it was time to use the explosives they had stolen from one of the Templar bases. She was about to make a u-turn for them when Star Lance popped out from around the corner, a spear in his hand. He ran up the first tank and tossed his weapon, skillfully getting it down the tank barrel.

The tank must’ve fired, because it’s entire barrel ruptured in a small explosion, opening it like a banana, the edges blackened.

The Mentor’s lieutenant really was a force to be reckoned with. As she stood there marveling, two of the other Mentors dropped from the buildings above, proceeding to the tanks. One had some kind of blow torch in his hands, getting to work on the tank’s armor as the other brought a satchel of explosives to the top of the tank. As soon as the torch had cut a big enough hole, the Mentor with the explosives tossed them in before both took off down another road.

The tank erupted in a ball of fire, sailing up in the air at least two meters before dropping back down on its side.

Now only one tank remained, and Star Lance was already working on it. He pulled a small object from his coat and stuck it close to the hatch. He ran off on the other side and jumped as the square object exploded, seemingly doing nothing to the tank. The lieutenant returned, and yanked the tank’s hatch open before hopping inside.

Rose could hear the scuffle of bodies within before everything became quiet; the only sounds she could hear were the gunfire and explosions ringing around the city. Leaving the lieutenant to finish up here, Rose continued down to the palace alongside some other Assassins. Their goal was to fight their way to the Masyaf Palace and whoever got in would look for the artifact.

She hoped she wasn’t the first to get there. Old stories back from her home came up in her memory; stories where villagers had disturbed ancient tombs, awakening angry spirits who rampaged through towns, destroying everything in their path. What if that happened when they found what they were looking for?

“Come on, Rose!” Shadowstrike tagged her on his way as he jumped over a dead Templar body. “You’re missing out!”

“I don’t think I am,” she muttered and followed after him. Even if she had second thoughts, this was still their mission to accomplish. If the Templars got the artifacts first, then they were going to be in some really serious trouble.

The Eastern Assassin ran after Shadowstrike, dodging debris and weaving around ruined buildings and vehicles. Rose noticed the bodies on the streets decreasing in number, meaning there were less and less Templars to fight.

Odd… She thought they would put up more of a fight closer to the heart of the city, where their forces were gathered. “Hey, Shadowstrike? I haven’t seen a live Templar in a while. Have you?”

“Killed a patrol before I found you,” the purple haired Assassin told her. “But you’re right. I haven’t seen once since...”

“Could be a trap lying ahead.” Rose scanned the streets with her eagle vision, but saw nothing but blue outlines in the grey world.

There were absolutely no Templars in the immediate area. Either the Assassins had killed them all, or there was something they were missing, and Rose Petal had a feeling it was the second option.

“Let’s see what those Templars have planned for us,” she told her friend as they entered the inner city together.

---

Grand Master Sombra opened his eyes and placed his feet to the ground, standing up from his meditation.

He looked down at the Apple. A fitting name, seeing as ponies liked apples. “You feel it too, do you not? They know where it is…”

The Apple didn’t respond, but he never expected it to. He followed the hum of the artifact in his hand, flowing his mind over to one of the Templars, one that he had dominated like he had with the barbaric Wolfgang.

Sombra looked through the eyes of one of the soldiers, spying across the cityscape. The Templars were retreating, just as he had ordered them to before dawn.

Good. Everything was going according to plan. He had most of the city under the control of his artifact, meaning there would be no help for the Assasssins whatsoever. Nothing was going to stop them now. There had been a small miscalculation when the Assassins had stolen the map, but Sombra knew it was going to be easy after that. He would make sure the Assassins would get to their destination, wherever it was the map had pointed them to. After that, it was all a matter of following them. Right now, he could see groups of Assassins making their way, seemingly towards the center of the city.

“The heart of the city? Where are you going, Assassins?” He turned the Templar’s head to look and understood. “The palace…”

Of course. It made sense that they had buried the tomb under the palace of the old king.

The famous old king. King Sombra of Masyaf.

That part troubled Sombra. If there was a Sombra in this world, there was bound to be a Princess Celestia and a Princess Luna; maybe even that little pony, Twilight Sparkle, the one who had defeated him.

That wasn’t the most troubling part for the Grand Master. He had read up on the city’s history, the knowledge gained from the minds of Saddle Arabians. King Sombra hadn’t been a usurper like Sombra had been. He was raised as royalty, ruling the lands after his father died. Sombra also noted how the people of this world respected his counterpart, unlike the ponies who he enslaved, the ponies he had killed.

Sombra never knew his father, nor did he know what his mother looked like, but he wasn’t born a good soul, like this world’s Sombra, who kept peace until his death. Sombra was born a being of darkness, his sole purpose to free his people under the Crystal Empire, and to take back what was theirs, just as the Crystal Heart had showed him. It was his destiny.

There was no goodness in him, and everypony out there knew it. Even Radiant Hope knew.

Sombra remembered her last words to him as she left his side forever.

“They were right about you all along! You are a monster…”

Sombra had rebuffed her answer and even cursed the kingdom, taking it away with himself when he was banished.

At first, he was glad he had caused her pain. She deserved it. But then in his exile, he grew to miss her. She was more important in his life than he had realized. She had been his only friend in his early days until he had learnt of his true origins. The only pony willing to stand with him while the others shunned them, made fun of them.

Sometimes, the shadowy king wished that things had turned out differently. What if the Crystal Heart had shown both of them a different destiny? A destiny where he never received his true powers. A destiny where he could see the Crystal Faire.

It was all he ever wanted. But not anymore.

Sombra growled and slashed his dream apart, returning to the normal world, stalking over to a window, his shadows increasing in size around him, taking the furniture in the room apart like toys. He tossed a shelf full of books across the room in a blink, shattering wood and paper all over the room. Then a sofa was next as he gripped in the artifact’s power, tearing it in half, all the while yelling at the top of his voice. Only after the room had be totaled before his eyes did Sombra stop.

Now, he wanted revenge. To return back to Equestria with an army that would dwarf anything Celestia or Luna could throw at him. To capture them and force them to watch their kingdom crumble before their very eyes as his umbrum ravaged the lands, destroying everything and anypony in their wake.

Not even that Twilight Sparkle would be able to stop him once he had the artifacts in his grasp. He knew what this one single artifact could do. With two more, nopony would be able to oppose him.

“I will be unstoppable. I will return to Equestria and make the princesses pay! Who can hope to stand against me? I am King Sombra, and if I want to take, I take. If I want you to die… You die. Long live the king!”

Comments

[Jaxxon Markus Citadel]

Star Lance may be impressive but if it weren't for Mirror Match's aversion to going to Saddle Arabia, she would be able to stop him cold. Good thing she wants nothing to do with Masyaf.

[Marcthelightspark2004]

Hmm, it seems Somby has an internal struggle. Fascinating. 10/10.

[MoonlightRift]

Som🅱️ozo